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At Will
Life in Workforce Management
At Will
Share your stories of workforce-management success in contributing to your business' bottom line, as well as your tales of business bloopers and blunders.
I had always been taught that when terminating an employee "at will" that it was best to just say "at will" and nothing else in an effort to stay out of litigation for other reasons. My question is th
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Forums » Topic Forums » Life in Workforce Management » At Will
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At Will
posted at 2/6/2003 10:01 AM EST
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Posts: 1
First: 2/6/2003 Last: 2/6/2003 |
I had always been taught that when terminating an employee "at will" that it was best to just say "at will" and nothing else in an effort to stay out of litigation for other reasons. My question is this. What if a manager fires an employee with the explanation that management is "not satisfied" and no explanation as to what they are not satisfied with. The manager made no reference to "at will". I counseled this manager that this could very easily lead to litigation due to their saying that they were not satisfied. The employee was a probationary employee with less than one year of tenure. It would seem that a termination such as this would imply just cause but wouldn't the employee be entitled to an explanation, especially with no prior history during the course of their one year of employment. Please help with this one. Thanks |
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At Will
posted at 3/10/2003 6:05 AM EDT
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Posts: 9
First: 6/28/2001 Last: 4/10/2003 |
I would recommend always having a "reason" for terminating someone, even if they are an "at-will" employee, even if it's just to defend against an unemployment claim, much less a discrimination claim. Documentation is very important when it comes to matters like this. If the employee's performance was poor, then that should be documented somewhere, especially if it is a probationary employee. If the issue was misconduct, then that should certainly be documented. Even if it's an "at-will" situation, you really should not terminate anyone for just that reason. It leaves you wide open to lawsuits.
In addition, depending on the state, you may be required to provide reasons for termination if the employee requests. |
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At Will
posted at 3/18/2003 7:16 AM EDT
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Posts: 206
First: 11/21/2001 Last: 11/30/2006 |
My seatmate on a recent two-hour flight was an employment attorney. The conversation eventually came around to termination and at-will employment. His recommendation for a termination notice was something like this: "The company has decided to exercise its right as an at-will employer and hereby terminates your employment effective immediately. We wish you the best of luck in your career."
His argument was that employers open themselves up to a far greater degree of liability by creating a vast paper trail of performance issues because every word is a word that may someday need to be justified. He was also not a fan of the four-step disciplinary process (verbal, written, second written, termination). He said he'd seen more injuries, disabilities, and harassment claims just magically appear out of nowhere in companies that followed that procedure. Bottom line: you can do everything right and still get sued, or you can do everything wrong and still get sued. Therefore, the fear of getting sued should not be a factor in making these kinds of decisions. Since only about 2% of discrimination claims that are filed are ultimately found to have merit, the likelihood of losing a lawsuit (assuming you actually are obeying the law) is one in fifty. |
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